from: Israel Finkelstein / Neil
A. Silberman: The Bible unearthed. Archeology's New
Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred
Texts; The Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster,
Inc., 2001; German edition has got the title "No trombones
before Jericho" (orig. German: "Keine Posaunen vor
Jericho"): edition C.H.Beck oHG, Munich 2002;
Here in this analysis is used the German version "Keine
Posaunen vor Jericho" of DTV, Munich 2004, second edition
of 2005. All page indications refer to the German version.
I hope the page numbers are not very different.
Now
the theologists of the "1 god theology" have to justify
themselves and are writing their books again
The theological mystic challenge for the
"1 god movement" is tremendous:
-- the prophecy for a big Jewish Empire
has not been fulfilled (p.335)
-- the priests have to justify the
destruction of Jerusalem (p.332)
-- add to this there is the question why
the allegedly pious king Josiah has not succeeded saving
Jerusalem (p.325)
-- so, for the ruin of the kingdom of
Judah there have to be invented new theological
manipulations because the eternal hope for a "holy land" has
finished now also for Judah (p.325)
-- the community in Yehud province has to
be unified around the temple
-- the priests have to have a new hope for
a better future
-- Yehud province has to arrange their new
relationships with it's neighbors in the North and in the
South
-- ant inner problems have to be solved
-- the priests have to find an explanation
why a big part of the allegedly "promised land" is occupied
by other populations (p.332)
-- so, the claims for neighboring land
don't stop [and the enmity against the neighbors is only
logic by this]
-- and the priests have to find a new
justification why the books should have a value despite of
the disaster with the destruction of Jerusalem (p.333)
[instead of abrogating them].
So, the priests are writing new completing
texts, and these new completing texts are called the
"Priestly Sources" (P).
The new
version of the Pentateuch about the invented Moses and the
destroyed Judah
The literary master work, the folks epos
of the end of the 7th century B.C. is revised into a world's
book as an anchor for the world's population (p.12). The 5
books of Moses find their final version "during the time
after the exile" (p.24) with the definite text (p.332).
Bible scholar Richard Friedman means that
Ezra himself had made the last revision of Pentateuch
because he names himself as "priest and mandatee for the law
of God and of Heaven" (Ezra 7,12) (p.332).
The priests are editing many invented
stories adding them to the Pentateuch (p.335).
The
creation of a second version of the Deuteronomistic
History - the whole population shall be responsible
Writing the new Priestly Sources (P) there
are written more parts of the "holy books":
-- the book of Jeremiah is edited
describing the life after the destruction of Judah (p.317)
-- the book of Ezekiel is edited about the
ban and the hopes in Babylonia
-- the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and
Zechariah are edited about the return from the ban (p.317)
-- there is a supplement of the book of
Chronicles edited with the depiction of history since Josiah
until the ruin of the kingdom of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar
(p.324) with Josiah's death
-- there are texts about the last four
kings of Jerusalem edited
-- there texts edited about the
destruction of Jerusalem, about the ban, with the
explanation why the destruction of Jerusalem had been
inevitable (p.325) (2d book of Kings 23,26 to 25,21)
(p.325).
There are more supplements of another
writer:
-- the
prophecy which is said having given to David is completed
with a new condition (1st book of Kings 2,4; 8,25; 9,4-9)
(p.325)
-- there are indications of a bad prophecy
added indicating a destruction of Jerusalem (e.g. in 2d book
of Kings 20,17-18), (p.325)
-- king Manasseh is made responsible for
it because since the destruction of Judah there is a new
"measure tape" for Jerusalem (2d book of Kings, 21,10-15)
(p.325)
-- there is a new invention that justice of king of Josiah
had provoked inevitably the destruction of Jerusalem only
delaying the destruction, and there had never been the
promise of a salvation, because the women prophet Hulda is
said having claimed that Jerusalem should be a damn for all
and misery will come over the site, but king Josiah would
not see this any more (2d book of Kings 22,18-20) (p.326)
-- the responsibles for the behavior of God is suddenly not
dependent on the king, but on every inhabitant if Jerusalem
will be destroyed or not: The alliance between the dynasty
of David and God is replaced now by an alliance between the
population and God [see: "book of alliance"] (p.326)
-- the sequestrated king of Jeconiah in Babylonia is said
having been dismissed and having had a good life with king
Amel-Marduk of Babel (2d book of Kings 25,27-30) (p.325,
326)
-- since this moment a new prophecy is given: When the
population is keeping their loyalty to God, so the prophecy
which had been given to David [founding of a kingdom] could
be revived (p.327).
And
there is also a new "book of Chronicle"
The "book of Chronicle" reflects the ideology and the need
of the temple in Jerusalem in the Yehud province, partly
with a revised historical story with the contents of the
books of Kings (p.25).
This new "book of Chronicle" is written in the 5th or 4th
century B.C., some 100 years after the events that are
described. It's a unilateral description in favor of the
historical and political claims of the Davidic dynasty and
of Jerusalem, and the North is hardly mentioned (p.25).
New prophet books of Haggai and
Zechariah
According to Finkelstein / Silberman the new prophet books
of Haggai and Zechariah are written in destroyed Judah
(p.328).
And
there are texts against "Idumea" with new geographical
indications
The priests don't want to accept the new region of the
Edomites ("Idumea") and don't want to accept the new
borderline of Yehud province in the South which was shifted
to the North. So they begin a new propaganda war against
Edomites:
-- now the priests claim that the patriarchs of Jewry would
be buried in the cave in Hebron provoking that with this
claim there is a mental Jewish occupation of this region
-- and the Israelites are generally presented as more
civilized than all neighboring peoples: So, the origin of
invented patriarch Abraham is said to be in the town of Ur
(Genesis 11,28; 11,31). Ur in these times is the host of
scholarship and indicating the origin of birth in Ur is
rising the reputation (p.334).
Documents speak: Just in
the middle of the 6th century B.C. the town of Ur is revived
as a religious center by the Babylonian or Chaldean king
Nabonidus (p.334-335).
The
new false identity with the new faked "holy books"
These "holy books" are simulating to give an identity to the
Jewish population in the tiny Yehud province, and it's
proved that this identity is a fake. The priests are
"unifying" the population by their manipulations and
invented books (p.335).
